Enraptured
by AlwaysPadfoot
Summary: Ginny helps Harry escape the press. Harry had a major crush.


**AN:** Prompts will be displayed at the bottom to avoid them potentially giving away things.

* * *

 **Enraptured**

 **AlwaysPadfoot**

* * *

"You could always just tell the press you're queer."

"Don't be ridiculous, Ginny." Harry tossed a pillow directly at Ginny's head, which, to Harry's irritation, she dodged easily and it landed with a soft thump on the Weasley's kitchen floor.

He looked hesitantly back towards the now-closed curtains and sighed. The last thing Harry wanted to do was cause Mrs Weasley an inconvenience by being the cause of a bunch of reporters trampling over her flowerbeds. They were supposed to we grieving; he was just causing problems. He supposed at least the reporters were no longer yelling his name out and trying to ask him a thousand questions.

 _Mr Potter, how do you feel about saving the Wizarding World?_

 _Harry! Harry! What are you going to do now that You-Know-Who is gone?_

 _Harry Potter, how do you respond to reports that uncaptured Death Eaters are causing several incidents in the Muggle World?_

They should have given up by now; the war had ended a month ago. Even so, he could hear Mrs Weasley in his head telling him it was okay — not to worry, dear, I can always replant the fuschia bushes. Mrs Weasley did not need to be replanting the fuschia bushes right now. Harry knew he couldn't stay here; he just wasn't sure how he was going to get out. The Floo network was still down; he still hadn't taken his Apparation exam so that was a no go. He couldn't keep asking Ginny to apparate with him everywhere.

He leant back against the sofa end with his face in his hands, huffing in frustration.

Ginny put her hand on his shoulder. 'They'll get bored eventually, Harry. And if they don't, I'll just turn them all into chickens — Mum's been going on about how she wants more. You know she'd knitted them all little jumpers for the winter, right?'

Harry nodded. Mrs Weasley had shown them to him a week or so after the war ended, and she'd begun to tell him that it had been Fred's idea.

She'd stopped almost instantly after Fred's name left her mouth.

"Look, Harry, if you don't want to stay—" Ginny began.

"It's not that, Gin," Harry said quickly, "honestly, it isn't."

"Okay, then I have an idea," she said firmly. "Go get your things; I know somewhere the press won't find you. Meet me back here in ten."

* * *

When Ginny had said she knew somewhere the reporters wouldn't continuously stalk him, Harry had been expecting that they were going somewhere in the Muggle World. He had not been expecting to be sleeping on the sofa in a loft apartment on a bustling street in Magical Bucharest. The blanket covering him was a bit too short so his bare feet stuck out at one end. He could hear Ginny snoring softly as the sun started to rise outside the window.

It was her brother, Charlie's, apartment. He regularly wasn't here, preferring instead to stay at the Keep he worked at. Ginny said he loved dragons more than family half the time. Harry wasn't sure if she was joking or not.

He'd only met Charlie a handful of times. To Harry, Charlie seemed like one of those cool, cliche bad-boy types. He had never seen the older Weasley without his leather jacket and dragon fang earring in — not even on the day of Fred's funeral when he wore the leather over his shirt and tie. It was a look that Harry was sure no one else could pull off; it was a look that Harry had to admit, he found very attractive.

When Ginny finally stopped sleeping, Harry had already showered, changed, and was drinking an exotic tea he'd found in the cupboard.

"What you drinking?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't actually know, but it's good."

"Let's taste." Ginny swiped up his mug and sniffed it, then screwed up her face. "Nevermind, that smells horrific. Where's the real tea?"

Harry grinned as she put the mug back on the table and stalked off to rummage through the cupboards. He had been appreciating the quiet; Ginny didn't realise how loud she was. Staying with the Weasleys, however, Harry had gotten used to the constant sound of other people moving and going about their business around him. She rambled on about how she was considering starting to date, now that her mum knew that she was gay, whilst she fried some sausages she'd found in the fridge. Having only drunk tea since he'd woken up, Harry's mouth watered and he slid out of his seat.

"What? No sausage for me?" Harry said as he stood beside Ginny with a wide grin. "Honestly Ginny, you can't eat six sausages to yourself."

She whacked him with the spatula and his hands flailed as he tried to duck away. "Screw you, Harry Potter. Now you're not getting any."

"No fair," he teased and then launched himself towards her for the spatula. "Gimme that spatula!"

They were in the middle of wrestling over the kitchen utensils when a voice made them jump apart. "Well, I'd call this a domestic if I didn't know you were both gay."

"Charlie!"

Ginny abandoned the spatula fight and launched herself at Charlie, who scooped her up and hugged her tight.

"Hey Gin." Charlie smiled; Harry liked his smile because it lit up the whole room. "What are you both doing in my apartment?"

"You didn't tell him?' Harry asked. 'Nice one, Gin."

Ginny shrugged and explained their much-needed escape from the press. The six sausages ended up split between the three of them as Charlie regaled some stories from the last few days in the Dragon Keep. Harry listened with utter fascination, finding himself gazing at the freckles on Charlie's face as he spoke animatedly about how a Peruvian Ironbelly had gone into labour late Thursday night and laid a record amount of eggs. It was odd, for someone Harry had barely spent any time with, Charlie had truly captured Harry's interest.

"Charlie, I was wondering," Harry began as the two men did the washing up together — Ginny had conveniently found something else to do, "does your Keep still have the Hungarian Horntail I faced in the Triwizard Tournament?"

Charlie passed him another wet plate to dry. "Yeah, she's getting old now. Why do you ask?"

"I was wondering whether I could visit," Harry said.

"No." Ginny's voice made them both jump even though she was still in the other room. "Nope. I am not spending the day in a smelly Dragon Keep."

"No one invited you," Charlie called back, giving Harry the final plate to dry with a wry smile, "me and Harry will go alone."

Ginny stuck her middle finger through the open door at the two of them. Harry laughed and Charlie winked at him, causing him to blush and turn to put the plate away. Admittedly, his sudden interest in visiting the Horntail from the Triwizard was half that, and half wanting to spend a little more time with Charlie.

Who could blame him?

* * *

Harry had never been to a Dragon Keep before though he'd sort of imagined it like a bigger version of a zoo. It wasn't at all.

He felt the wind on his face and the sun on his skin. Admittedly, Harry felt a little scared, like a dragon might swoop down, whip him off his feet, and no one would ever see him again. He was reassured, however, by Charlie striding just ahead of him unperturbed by the creatures swooping in the distance. Harry admired him from behind; he'd never noticed the older Weasley brothers muscles before. His arms were toned under the burns that Harry imagined was just a consequence of the job he had.

"You don't mind, Harry, if I just check on the eggs?" Charlie called over his shoulder as he took a path downwards towards a chasm between two narrowed rocky cliffs. "It will only take a moment."

"No, not at all."

Harry followed Charlie down the steep staircase until they reached the bottom. Entranced by the sight of the largest creature he had ever seen, Harry didn't stop until Charlie threw his arm across his chest.

"Not so close; she won't trust you," Charlie said, before gesturing to a stone bench to their right. "Sit, I'll be right back, okay?"

Harry nodded, doing as he was told, as Charlie walked towards the large scaled creature. He was walking slower this time. Harry watched in utter fascination as the Peruvian Ironbelly crouched over her nest. Her eyes were fixed on Charlie and his on her's. He went around the left of the circular chasm they were in, his smile wide.

"Hey, girl." Harry heard Charlie's words, the acoustics of the open air cave perfect to hear everything, and the red-haired man. "How are you doing?"

Absolutely convinced that Charlie was going to get roasted, Harry felt his heart rate quicken as he watched. His hand kept twitching towards his wand every time either of them made a sudden movement. But eventually, after a light sweat had formed on Harry's brow, Charlie reached the dragon's nest. She'd stepped away, but stayed close, her body close to the ground. Charlie sat at the edge of the nest, cooing words of reassurance as he checked the nest over. Harry smiled, watching. When he finally finished, Charlie approached the mother, outstretched his hand and gently touched the palm of his hand to the dragon's snout. She gave an appreciative purr — that was the only way Harry could describe the noise — and then Charlie stepped back and flashed a smile in his direction,

Rejoined by the older man, Harry stood. "That was truly amazing."

"Ah, I heard about you and your honeyed words, Mr Potter," Charlie grinned.

"My _honeyed_ words?"

"Gin tells me you could have been a Slytherin; that being said, so could she," Charlie said. "No wonder you two are good friends."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Well, I meant it; that was just — yeah — cool."

Charlie slung his arm around Harry's shoulders. "Cool, huh? Harry Potter thinks I'm cool; I am honoured."

Harry blushed and Charlie laughed loudly as they headed back up the stone staircase, pulling Harry close as they did. He couldn't quite believe it, but Harry loved how comfortable Charlie was acting around him. The teasing and closeness helped him truly relax, something him didn't get the courtesy of back in Britain with the press around every corner.

"Now," Charlie said, as they stepped back out into the sunlight at the top of the chasm, "let's go visit your old friend, shall we?"

* * *

 **Comp/Challenge & Prompts: **

**Insane House Challenge** : 739. Title - Enraptured

 **365 House Challenge** : 70. Creature - Dragon

 **Going Going Gone** : 60. (5 coins) - Dialogue: "I heard about you and your honeyed words."

 **Word Count** **:** 1779 — not inc. notes, titles, or ANs.


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